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Aim: To investigate the effects of residual plasma Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA levels after 3 months of intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) (postIMRT-EBV DNA) on prognosis in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Methods: Data from 300 patients were retrospectively collected for analysis. Results: Of these patients, 25 (8.3%) and 275 (91.7%) had positive and negative postIMRT-EBV DNA, respectively. Multivariate survival analysis showed that EBV DNA >688 IU/ml was independently associated with inferior distant metastasis-free survival (p = 0.003) and progression-free survival (p = 0.002). Moreover, postIMRT-EBV DNA was independently associated with inferior locoregional recurrence-free survival (hazard ratio: 4.325; p = 0.018), distant metastasis-free survival (hazard ratio: 10.226; p < 0.001) and progression-free survival (hazard ratio: 10.520; p < 0.001). Conclusion: Positive postIMRT-EBV DNA is a prognostic biomarker for nasopharyngeal carcinoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To assess the prognostic effect of plasma Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) DNA load after induction chemotherapy (postIC‐EBV DNA) on survival outcomes in locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (LA‐NPC). Methods: Patients who were diagnosed with LA‐NPC between August 2017 and October 2021 were included. The chi‐squared test, receiver operating characteristic, Kaplan–Meier survival analysis, and Cox proportional hazard model were used for statistical analysis. Results: We included 172 patients with EBV DNA‐positive LA‐NPC in this study. There were 35.5% (n = 61) of patients had plasma residual EBV DNA after induction chemotherapy (IC). Patients with higher EBV DNA before IC (p < 0.001) and advanced nodal stage (p = 0.031) were significantly related to a higher rate of residual postIC‐EBV DNA. Patients with detectable postIC‐EBV DNA had inferior 3‐year locoregional relapse‐free survival (LRFS) (86.7% vs. 96.9%, p = 0.020), distant metastasis‐free survival (DMFS) (76.8% vs. 94.2%, p < 0.001), disease‐free survival (DFS) (68.2% vs. 91.1%, p < 0.001), and overall survival (OS) (87.8% vs. 97.9%, p = 0.044) compared to those with undetectable postIC‐EBV DNA. The multivariate prognostic analyses showed that detectable postIC‐EBV DNA was the independent prognostic factor related to LRFS (p = 0.032), DMFS (p = 0.010), and DFS (p = 0.004) than those with undetectable postIC‐EBV DNA. Pretreatment EBV DNA load had no prognostic effect in the multivariate analyses. Conclusions: The monitoring of plasma postIC‐EBV DNA has improved prognostication in LA‐NPC. Our findings suggest that postIC‐EBV DNA may be a robust indicator to identify the optimal candidate for intensive treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPN) as an environmentally-friendly biocontrol agent in combination with low toxic insecticides can increase control efficacy against insect pests. In this study, Steinernema carpocapsae All (Sc-All) combined with four common insecticides was used to evaluate the control efficacy against chive root gnat (Bradysia odoriphaga), an important pest of vegetables, e.g. , chive, onion or garlic. The compatibility of nematodes with insecticides and host-seeking behaviour were also evaluated by the laboratory bioassay. The results showed three insecticides (matrine, imidacloprid and chlorpyrifos) at the recommended concentrations (RC), 10% RC or 2% RC and insecticide phoxim at 10% RC or 2% RC had no effect on nematodes survival. Sc-All at 50 infective juveniles (IJ) per insect larva in the presence of the four insecticides at 10% RC demonstrated a potentiated, additive or a synergistic effect on the corrected mortality rates of insect up to 100% (imidacloprid) when compared with the corresponding insecticide and Sc-All alone. A synergistic effect resulting in lethal effect was found as early as at 24 h when 200 IJ of Sc-All per insect larva were combined with 10% RC imidacloprid, whilst only 9.4% and 0 corrected mortality were detected, respectively, when exposed to the same amount of imidacloprid and Sc-All alone. For the first time a Pluronic gel system assay revealed that the presence of insecticides significantly improved Sc-All host-seeking ability as early as 30 min post exposure. The results indicated that low doses of Sc-All-imidacloprid combination would be an effective strategy to control chive root gnat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed to select optimal candidates benefiting from the addition of induction chemotherapy (IC) to concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) in stage II–IVa nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) based on Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) DNA and nodal maximal standardized uptake values (SUVmax‐N) of [18F]‐fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography. Patients and materials: A total of 679 patients diagnosed with stage II–IVa (except N0) NPC were retrospectively included in this study. Overall survival was the primary endpoint. Survival differences between different groups were compared using the log‐rank test. The hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated using a multivariable Cox proportional hazards model. Results: Both high levels of EBV DNA (>1500 copies/mL) and SUVmax‐N (>12.3) indicated worse survival conditions. All patients were divided into low‐ and high‐risk groups based on these two biomarkers. The risk group was an independent prognostic factor in OS, progression‐free survival (PFS), and distant metastasis‐free survival (DMFS) (all p‐values<0.05). The addition of IC to CCRT was associated with survival improvement in OS, PFS, and DMFS in high‐risk patients, while no survival difference was found between CCRT and IC+CCRT in low‐risk patients. Conclusions: Our study can help clinicians select stage II–IVa NPC patients who benefit from IC, which is important in guiding individual treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A wave energy converter must be designed to survive and function efficiently, often in highly energetic ocean environments. This represents a challenging engineering problem, comprising systematic failure mode analysis, environmental characterization, modeling, experimental testing, fatigue and extreme response analysis. While, when compared with other ocean systems such as ships and offshore platforms, there is relatively little experience in wave energy converter design, a great deal of recent work has been done within these various areas. This paper summarizes the general stages and workflow for wave energy converter design, relying on supporting articles to provide insight. By surveying published work on wave energy converter survival and design response analyses, this paper seeks to provide the reader with an understanding of the different components of this process and the range of methodologies that can be brought to bear. In this way, the reader is provided with a large set of tools to perform design response analyses on wave energy converters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Backgrounds: Oral cancer is the 4th leading cause of cancer death for males and the top cancer in young adult males in Taiwan. Tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) is a common oral cancer and generally associated with poor prognosis. Global DNA hypomethylation at the 5 position of cytosine (5mC) is a well-known epigenetic feature of cancer. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of the global 5mC content with the tumorigenesis and prognosis of patients with TSCC.Methods: The levels of global 5mC were evaluated by immunohistochemistry using tissue microarray slides of 248 surgically resected TSCC and 202 corresponding tumor adjacent normal (TAN) tissues.Results: We found that the level of 5mC in TSCC (P < 0.001) was significantly decreased as compared to TAN. Among TSCC tissues, decreased levels of 5mC were associated with female gender (P = 0.036). In addition, the global hypomethylation was associated with the poor disease-specific survival in TSCC patients (adjusted hazard ratio: 1.55, P = 0.043), especially for patients in older age group (> 50 years, P = 0.013), with moderate or poor cell differentiation (P = 0.044), early stage of disease (I-II, P = 0.046), small tumor size (T1-T2, P = 0.005), without lymph node involvement (P = 0.041), and ever received postoperative radiotherapy (P = 0.009).Conclusions: Global hypomethylation was an independent biomarker for the development and poor prognosis of TSCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Mutation of the exon 3 of CTNNB1, the coding gene of β-catenin, is a crucial molecular mechanism leading to aberrant activation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, which is highly associated with the carcinogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The prevalence and clinical significance of CTNNB1 mutations in advanced HCC remain unclear. Methods: Patients with advanced HCC and available pathologic tissues (either obtained when diagnosed at advanced or early stages) were enrolled in this study. Direct sequencing of exon 3 of CTNNB1 was performed to detect somatic mutations. The associations between CTNNB1 mutations and clinicopathologic features were analyzed. Results: A total of 115 patients were enrolled, among whom 78 (67.8%) had chronic hepatitis B virus infection. Twenty-one (18.3%) patients were found to have CTNNB1 mutations, all of which were missense mutations. The CTNNB1 mutation rates were similar among pathologic tissues obtained at advanced and early stages (17.5 and 20.0%, respectively). Patients aged over 60 years were more likely to have CTNNB1 mutations than patients younger than 60 years (32.6 vs. 8.7%, p = 0.001). The mutations were not associated with survival or other clinicopathologic features. Conclusion: In patients with advanced HCC, CTNNB1 mutations were not prognostically significant. No apparent increase of CTNNB1 mutations occurred during the progression of HCC. © 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Primary tumor volume (PTV) is known to be a significant prognostic factor in malignant tumor. There have been several studies of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) relating tumor volume to treatment outcome. Our study was designed to evaluate the effect of PTV on treatment outcomes in NPC treated with radiotherapy (RT)/concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) or CCRT with adjuvant chemotherapy. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 100 cases with newly diagnosed NPC who were treated with RT/CCRT or CCRT with adjuvant chemotherapy from 2002 to 2006. Magnetic resonance imaging-derived PTV was calculated using the summation-of-area technique. Kaplan-Meier plots and the log-rank test were used to estimate tumor recurrence (locoregional, distant, or both) and overall survival. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used to assess the prognostic impact of PTV. Results: The median PTV was 12.94 mL. PTV remained an independent prognostic factor for distant metastasis (hazard ratio [HR], 1.04; p = 0.03), for any relapse (HR, 1.04; p = 0.02), and for overall survival (HR, 1.09; p < 0.001) in multivariate analysis. In the large tumor volume group (PTV > 15 mL), patients'' metastasis-free survival rates, with and without adjuvant chemotherapy, were 100% and 68.3%, respectively (p = 0.002). Their 3-year recurrence-free survival rates, with and without adjuvant chemotherapy, were 94.1% and 69.6%, respectively (p = 0.006). In the small tumor volume group (PTV £ 15 mL), this phenomenon was not observed. Conclusion: PTV had a close relationship with survival rates and recurrence rates in patients with NPC. The large tumor volume group (PTV > 15 mL) was associated with more recurrence and poor survival rate, and it was suggested that these high-risk patients should benefit from CCRT followed by adjuvant chemotherapy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background & Aims: No approved therapy is available for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who fail first-line therapy. The prognosis of these patients, especially those eligible for clinical trials of second-line therapy, is unclear. Methods: All patients who participated in clinical trials of first-line systemic therapy for metastatic or locally advanced HCC in a referral center of Taiwan between 2005 and 2011 were included. Their clinicopathologic characteristics, when the first-line treatment failed, were analyzed and correlated with the overall survival (OS) from the date of first-line treatment failure. Results: A total of 192 patients were included. Before the start of the first-line therapy, all patients had Child-Pugh class A liver reserves and Cancer of the Liver Italian Program (CLIP) scores ⩽4. After the failure of the first-line therapy, the median OS of the entire group was 4.0months. Patients with Child-Pugh class A liver reserves, when the first-line treatment failed, had significantly better OS than patients with Child-Pugh class B or C liver reserves (median, A vs. B vs. C=7.5 vs. 1.3 vs. 1.0month, p <0.001). According to the key eligibility criteria of 3 published clinical trials for second-line therapy, 41%–56% of patients were potentially eligible. Compared to patients who were ineligible for clinical trials, potentially eligible patients had longer OS with a median of 7.8–8.6months. Conclusions: Patients with advanced HCC who failed first-line therapy could have substantially improved prognosis if they had Child-Pugh A liver reserves or were potentially eligible for clinical trials. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]